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Offshore Menace

Everybody is overwhelmed with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico since April 2010. Not only the population of the Gulf of Mexico. Not only the American citizens who realize that the shore of the Gulf is being destroyed by the oil spill. But all responsible human on this planet realize the size of this ecological menace and catastrophic outcome of this sad event.

If only the oil spill of the Gulf of Mexico had been the very first one. Unfortunately our beautiful big blue marble has known way more than this huge catastrophe. There have been tens of oil catastrophes all over the globe, but there are ten on them that have left a mark on our memories and on the ecology.

The very first one that everybody can remember is the Exxon Valdez oil spill, that was one of the largest one the US have known, with 257,000 barrels poured in Alaska in March 1989. It is considered to be on of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history.

Also, the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Bay on Campeche, Mexico, occurred in June 1979. The worst thing about this oil spill is that it was not under control until March 1980. It took 9 months to have this situation taken care of .

The coast of California have also known oil spills, other than the Exxon Valdez’s one in 1989. 20 years earlier, miles and miles of the Southern California beaches have been contaminated with the Santa Barbara oil spill that released 80,00 to 100,000 barrels of oil over a 10 day period.

Today, our memories of these catastrophes are back. With 5,000 to 60,000 barrels per day poured in these waters, we can be sure that this ecosystem is gone forever. Maybe someday we’ll need Sorel boots just to wade in the shallow waters

A lot of associations are trying to find solutions to stop this menace, and the clean energy must replace the use of oil. While we could certainly benefit from fewer vehicles that require a refinance auto loan, the challenge is to fill existing needs with alternate solutions. Or we might not have any other choice in the next few decades, when all our oil reserves will be completely empty.